The information technology infrastructure library (ITIL) (trademark of the British Government) is a collection of best practices (best examples) for realizing information technology (IT) service management. At a center of the ITIL is service support and service delivery. One of the services supported is configuration management. Configuration management refers to a process for identifying a configuration item (CI) that is a subject of IT service management and for maintaining, confirming, and inspecting information on the configuration item. Configuration items include not only system resources, such as hardware, software, and databases, but also equipment necessary to provide IT services, manuals on IT service management, documents such as work procedure manuals and block diagrams, services on maintenance information, processes, and human resources.
In the framework of the ITIL, it is recommended that configuration items be managed in a unified way using a database called a configuration management database (CMDB). The CMDB is a database for recording at least one attribute of each configuration item and relationships between each configuration item and other configuration items. If a computer system is provided with a CMDB, as well as an ability to automatically find information on configuration items (discovery) and an ability to automatically update information on configuration items (tracking), the computer system is enabled to reflect information on the configuration items at the CMDB.
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) provides the “Tivoli Change and Configuration Management Database” (Tivoli CCMDB) as software to help construct a CMDB and to control operation processes on the basis of the constructed CMDB. The Tivoli CCMDB includes operation management software for performing discovery and tracking.
The Tivoli CCMDB is enabled to identify 300 types of configuration items in a distributed network environment, such as a server, clients, an operating system (OS), middleware (e.g., Web/Application Program/Database Management System/Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, etc.), package software, management tools, network devices, and storage devices. The Tivoli CCMDB is also enabled to automatically find and update information on the configuration items, such as information on the configurations of computers such servers and clients, information on applications that run on each computer, information on the configurations of network attached storage (NAS) printers, and information on the configurations of storage area network (SAN) printers, and similar devices connected to a network.
Although the method for collecting information on a configuration item depends on the configuration item to be managed, a computer system that manages a CMDB accesses a remote interface for management periodically using Secure SHell (ssh), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), or other protocol to read a setting file on the Operating System (OS), to read configuration information, or to execute a command to display settings.
Note that there is no need to install an agent program into the configuration item to be managed. In order to collect information on a configuration item and relationships between the configuration item and other configuration items without installing an agent program into the configuration item, the Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager (TADDM) may be used. The TADDM is a component of the CCMDB. As of the year 2006, information found and updated in the above-described manner is categorized into 31 sections (categories such as computer system, database, application, and process), 636 classes (basic unit of data model; each class belongs to one or more sections), 2609 attributes (information on an attribute of data; each attribute belongs to one class), 7 interfaces (a group of attributes that are frequently used; each interface belongs to multiple sections), 57 relationships, and 49 data types on the basis of the “Common Data Model” (CDM). The CDM is a data model for use in a configuration management database set forth by IBM. Information on a configuration item and relationships between the configuration item and other configuration items is passed on to a graphical user interface (GUI) display tool such as a TADDM console. The configuration item and relationships between the configuration item and other configuration items are visually displayed on a display unit using individual blocks and links between the blocks.
In order to collect information on configuration items, a configuration information collection system for performing discovery requires the user IDs and passwords of administrators that have the authority to administer the respective configuration items. However, much effort is required for the configuration information collection system to manage the passwords concerning all the configuration items. Also, if the password concerning a configuration item to be managed changes, the configuration information collection system requires the changed password to collect information on the configuration item. Again, much effort is needed for the configuration information collection system to manage the changed password in synchronization. Further, if the CMDB stores the user IDs and passwords concerning all the configurations items, the security of the configuration information collection system must be made more stringent. Also, if the security is made more stringent, the use of information on the configuration items stored in the CMDB may need to be restricted.